BMW 3200 CS Bertone, 1964
BMW 3200 CS Bertone, year 1964. Colour blue metallic combined with a beige cloth interior and beige Girloon carpet. This gorgeous BMW 3200 CS Bertone in ‘barn find’ condition was sold new in March 1964 to the firm of Baumgarte in Brackwede, Germany. In the year 2006 the automobile was exported to the Netherlands where it was garaged for many years in a dry environment. Recently the was taken out of storage and put back in service again. We have driven the car for about 5 miles, and it is incredible how good it still runs, shifts, brakes, and handles. The electrically powered windows work perfectly; 1960s German quality! This BMW 3200 CS can be driven ‘as-is’ as a ‘survivor’ with some additional TLC, new tyres, and a new MOT. This ‘barn find’ condition automobile is a solid and complete base for a full restoration to concours standards. Only 603 examples were built from September 1961 until September 1965, only 125 cars are known to survive globally. This example shows all the original details except that it was poorly repainted in blue metallic decades ago. This BMW 3200 CS Bertone was supplied new in the colour ‘velours rot’ (velvet red) combined with the current beige interior. The car was factory supplied with a sliding sunroof and a top-end Blaupunkt Köln auto radio with automatic channel search function. The car comes complete with the original jack, wheel nut spanner and tool bag. Furthermore, the car is sold with a set of five rare new aluminium hub caps, a full set of bodywork rubbers (also for the windshield and rear window), two new Bertone emblems and a set of four new jack-hole covers. This is a unique opportunity to buy a BMW 3200 CS Bertone in solid, complete, and running ‘barn find’ condition. The car is registered in the Netherlands, and it can be exported to any country globally. The car is being sold ‘as-is’.
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Classic Job 2108
The BMW 3200 CS Bertone was officially shown by BMW at the Frankfurter Automobil-Ausstellung in September 1961. The car has been in production from September 1961 to September 1965. 603 examples were built, including 1 Cabriolet version for major shareholder Quandt. It is estimated that about 125 copies are still “alive” (most of them in Germany). The Bertone was built in two series, the first up to chassis number 76175, from 76176 the second series with the gearbox directly coupled to the engine and with floor-gear-shifter. At the Frankfurter Automobil-Ausstellung, the Bertone was somewhat in the shadow of the BMW 1500 Neue Klasse, which was also introduced there and especially afterwards it was questionable why BMW still dared to introduce an expensive V8 Coupé as a successor to the 503. It was probably a prestige thing. The body was designed and built by Bertone in Italy. The bodies were transported to BMW and further assembled there. The Bertone was the first BMW with the legendary 'Hofmeister kink' and we see the roofline and hardtop window construction in the later BMW E9 Coupés such as the 2000 CS and the later 3.0 CS(I) models. The Bertone was a very expensive car: In Germany the price in 1962 was DM 29,850 (which could go up to DM 35,000 if all options were applied). In the sparse road tests of its time, the Bertone was judged to be very elegant and comfortable automobile with exceptionally good driving and handling capabilities, as well as praised for its powerful, smooth V8 engine which could accelerate from 30 km/h to 200 km/h in top gear.
Technical data*:
V8 engine
cylinder capacity: 3168 cc
induction: 2 x twin choke carburettors
capacity: 160 bhp at 5600 rpm
torque: 245 Nm at 3600 rpm
top-speed: 200 km/h
acceleration 0-100 km/h 11 sec
gearbox: 4-speed manual (ZF S4-17)
brakes: servo assisted, disc brakes front, drum brakes rear
weight: 1500 kg.
*Source: ‚Das BMW V8 Buch‘ by Reinhard Lintelmann.